Coney Island Waltz
by LuckyxLabradoodlexLoverx7
Summary: AU: Roger and his new love, Clara, spend the day at Coney Island and fall in love again at the carousel.  Rated T for safety.  ONE-SHOT.  Takes place in 2011.


Disclaimer – I own nothing of RENT, except my original character, Clara. The rest belongs to Jonathon Larson. 'Nuff said.

A/N: Hey everyone! It feels weird writing for the RENT category after focusing all of my attention to my 3 Les Miserables fics.

Summary: AU: Roger and his new love, Clara, spend the day at Coney Island and fall in love again at the carousel. Rated T for safety. ONE-SHOT. Takes place in 2011.

Genre: Romance/None

Rating: T

* * *

><p><em>Flashback:<em>

_Sixteen-year-old Roger watched as all the children got on the carousel before he nodded to Bud, the engineer, to start it._

"_Wait!" a girl called. Roger opened the gate and took her ticket. She smiled at him and mounted a zebra on the end. _

"_Enjoy the ride." Roger told the passengers, nodding to Bud. He pushed the green button and the lively carousel music filled the air. Each time the last passenger zoomed by Roger, he smiled at her or tipped his hat to her._

_The ride ended and everyone exited the carousel, except the girl. Roger went over to her and offered his hand. She smiled and slipped off the zebra._

_Roger watched her as she left. She wore a long yellow dress with quarter-length sleeves, a yellow sunhat and black shoes on her feet. She had flaming red hair, blue eyes and a few freckles on her face. Roger noted that she was the same age he was – sixteen._

"_What's your name?" the girl asked._

"_Roger. What's yours?" Roger inquired._

"_Clara." The girl – Clara – said. Roger smiled – he loved the name Clara._

"_Will I see you again?" Clara asked._

_Roger nodded._

"_I'm here until ten o'clock tonight."_

"_I wish I could stay that long, but I can't – my parents will be angry."_

"_Why?"_

"_Let's just say they don't like me very much."_

"_Why don't they like you?"_

"_Roger, I really don't like talking about it." Clara told him, tears in her eyes._

"_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."_

"_It's all right. I'll see you later."_

_With that, Clara was gone, the tune of The Carousel Waltz playing in the background._

Flash forward – present day

Roger sighed as he, his four-year-old niece Sara, ten-year-old niece Laurie and sister Karen, waited in line for the carousel. Karen and the girls were visiting from Montana and had never been to Coney Island.

Since there weren't many rides that Sara could go on, they agreed just to go on the carousel and a ride of Laurie's choosing.

As they waited their turn, Roger thought that he saw a girl with flaming red hair walk past them.

"Excuse me." Roger told his family, hopping over the guardrail and sprinted after the girl.

"Clara? Clara Fergusson?" Roger panted, catching up to her.

"Yes. Who's asking?" the girl asked.

"You probably don't remember me, but I was sixteen and had a summer job working at the carousel here."

"I remember you very well, Roger Davis." Clara said, looking into Roger's kind green eyes. The two of them walked towards the carousel.

"Are you seeing anyone?" Roger asked. Clara shook her head as they made their way towards Roger's family. He introduced the girls to each other as he handed their tickets to the ticket-taker. Roger and Clara found two horses next to each other while Karen and the girls found a row of horses behind them.

"What about you, Roger? Are you seeing anyone?" Clara inquired.

"I was seeing someone, then she killed herself. I then married another girl, but she died, along with our daughter and son in a house fire." Roger answered. As the carousel started moving, Clara reached across and held Roger's hand, gently squeezing it. Roger smiled and squeezed her hand back. As the carousel started moving, the blaring notes of The Carousel Waltz came from the organ at the center of the carousel.

Later, Karen took the girls back to Roger's place because both girls were complaining they were tired. To add to it, Sara had gotten a bad sunburn and wasn't feeling well.

"Alone at last." Clara told Roger as they walked along the beach. Roger smiled and placed his jacket around Clara's shoulders. He then pulled out his camera and told her to hold still.

"Why? Do I have a bug on me?" Clara shrieked, looking over her shoulder. Roger burst out laughing.

"No, you don't have a bug on you. The light is hitting you perfectly." Roger told her, walking over and posing her. "Don't move." He then walked back to his spot and took at least ten pictures of her.

After Karen and the girls left, Roger moved out of the loft and asked Clara to move in with him. Of course, she said yes. They found jobs within the same school – Clara was the English and Social Studies teacher while Roger was the music teacher.

After two years of living together, Roger asked Clara to marry him. Again, her answer was yes.

* * *

><p>"Roger!" Clara moaned. It was nine months after they were married and Clara was expecting their first child.<p>

"Whaaat?" Roger groaned. It was one o'clock in the morning.

"My water broke about five minutes ago." Clara told her husband. Roger was more awake, now that his wife told him she was in labor. He helped Clara into the tub to prepare her for a water birth. He couldn't get in touch with the doctor because of the winter storm that was coming.

"Shh, I'm right here." Roger told her as he helped her out of her clothes and into the tub. He squeezed her hand as a contraction ripped through her.

"This hurts so much!" Clara told her husband, watching him put her legs on either side of the tub to make her comfortable.

"I know, but soon, we'll have our little bundle of joy." Roger said, rolling up his sleeves as he saw the baby's head peak its way between Clara's legs. "Clara, I can see the head. Keep pushing, baby."

Clara took a deep breath and pushed as hard as she could. Roger could see the head, shoulders and the rest of the baby. He reached his hands into the water so he could catch the baby. The baby – a little girl – was screaming at the top of her lungs as Roger cleaned her nose and mouth. He then cut the cord and handed the baby to his wife.

"Hi little one. It's okay, mommy's here." Clara soothed the baby, bringing her to her breast. The baby latched on and suckled nosily.

"What's her name?" Roger asked, leaning over the side of the tub and ran a finger up and down the baby's arm.

"Carol Luccie." Clara told her husband without hesitation.

"I love it." Roger told her, kissing the top of his wife's head.

"Do you know why we are naming her Carol Luccie?" Clara asked.

"It's the only name we could agree on?"

"And?"

"And I have no idea. Why don't you tell me."

"Because it sounds like carousel, the place where we met."

"That is the best reason. I love you Clara."

"I love you, too, Roger."

"May I hold her?" Roger asked later that night. They were in the master bedroom. Carol was on her back in her mother's arms, staring up at her parents. Clara nodded and handed her daughter to her husband. He picked her up and held her in his arms.

"You are so beautiful, you know that, right? You are not dating til you're thirty, young lady." Roger told his daughter. Carol looked up at her father and cooed. "I love you and will never stop loving you."

An hour later, Carol was asleep. Roger gathered Clara in his arms and kissed her, letting her know that he would never stop loving her.

Clara kissed him back, letting him know that she would never stop loving him.

Sadly, when Carol was two, both Roger and Clara passed away. Clara had a brother that always wanted children, but never had any of his own, so it was agreed that Carol would be his child.

Every night, Eric (Clara's brother) would sing the Carousel Waltz to Carol, as requested by Roger before he joined his wife in heaven.

As they looked down on their daughter, Roger and Clara rested their heads on their partner's shoulders. They were happy that their daughter was in good hands.


End file.
